I recently replaced a toilet that simply wasn’t flushing properly. What a difference!
Now, this is a ‘conventional’ installation, with the toilet having a holding tank and mounted on the floor.
A great deal of effort was spent making sure the sewer was clear, that there was a good water supply, and that the takn of the old toilet was operating properly. Toilet was snaked. Still, no matter what you did, even multiple flushes left plenty of stuff in the bowl.
Having eliminated everything else, it was time to replace the POS ‘water saving’ toilet.
Let me tell you …. $200 gets you quite a decent toilet! ADA height, elongated seat, and a vigorous flush. The toilet came complete with wax seal and brass mounting bolts. Toilets sure have come a long way since this water-saving silliness started.
Suddenly, it’s a pleasure answering nature’s call.
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Do note that in a substantial number of cases the old toilet fails either because:
Something (comb, child's toy, etc) is stuck in the trap, inside the toilet.
The "jets" around the rim and at the bottom have gotten limed up.
The original water saving toilets simply did not work. I had the same experience as Reno. I had a $400 Kohler that we called the #1 toilet because a decent #2 would plug it up. The new one I got gets the job done. Now the problem is there is not enough water to actually move the load down the line. It is particularly true when someone uses paper like they have stock in Charmin.
If you wash your hands afterward, it is not only sanitary but gets the last thing you did, moving on down the line.
Kohler -- in Japan
We built our house in Japan in 1994, and it had three Kohler San Rafael water-saving toilets (our contractor made the selection, not us). They all broke down before a year had passed--the high-pressure valve assembly just couldn't handle "Japanese water," I guess. I had to replace the valvesl a number of times until I finally decided to change to the local Toto brand at the next breakdown for each toilet. I made a visual record of the first change:
http://s27.photobucket.com/user/Peregrinor/library/toilet-change .
The Japanese take toilets seriously: our first Toto was "just" a toilet for the equivalent of a mere $700+. Our next one was a Toto "washlet" (combination bidet and butt scrubber) for about $1400. These prices are not extreme